It is well known that human speech is being increasingly used as input data to electronically conduct transactions, send and receive information, and provide command and control. With the above in mind, it is also known that the airline and avionics industries operate in a global environment where oftentimes parties must communicate verbally in a language that is not their primary or native language. The accuracy of the communication depends on how well each of the speakers articulates each of the words he or she has spoken, which may depend on whether, and to what extent, he or she speaks with an accent. If the speaker's accent is severe, communications between, for example, neighboring aircraft, air traffic control (ATC), and landing or departing aircraft, etc. may be problematic. In fact, roughly sixty-five percent of pilots who fly internationally report difficulties communicating with ATC due to the air traffic controller's accent when speaking English.
This problem is ubiquitous among controllers in many countries, notwithstanding that seventy-five percent of communicators use ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) standard phraseology. Thus, translation is not the problem. Rather, the problems are associated with accent, pitch, pronunciation, and bitrate. Such communication problems impair a pilot's ability to understand and follow instructions, requiring significantly more effort and concentration.
Speech recognition is always specific to the language of the speaker, and the pronunciation of the speaker's language is not standardized from one region to another, even across nations. For example, North American English can be separated into several regional dialects based on phonological, lexical, and certain syntactic features. That is, North American English includes American English, which itself includes several regional varieties. Thus, a pilot on a long flight over different regions may interact with air traffic controllers that speak with accents based on the specific region's phonetic and lexical variations, thus adding to the pilot's workload.
In view of the foregoing, it would be desirable to provide an adaptive speech interface that automatically compensates for regional dialects during communications with aircraft in the region over which the aircraft is flying. It would also be desirable to provide an adaptive speech interface that utilizes an acoustic model tailored to the distinct geographical region over which the aircraft is flying.